Chapter Stational to Stay of S by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Stay
(Stay) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stayed or Staid ; p. pr. & vb. n. Staying.] [OF. estayer, F. étayer to prop, fr. OF. estai, F. étai, a prop, probably fr. OD. stade, staeye, a prop, akin to E. stead; or cf. stay a rope to support a mast. Cf. Staid, a., Stay, v. i.]

1. To stop from motion or falling; to prop; to fix firmly; to hold up; to support.

Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side.

Ex. xvii. 12.

Sallows and reeds . . . for vineyards useful found
To stay thy vines.

Dryden.

2. To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.

He has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute.

Sir W. Scott.

3. To bear up under; to endure; to support; to resist successfully.

She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes.

Shak.

4. To hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain; to stop; to hold.

Him backward overthrew and down him stayed
With their rude hands grisly grapplement.

Spenser.

All that may stay their minds from thinking that true which they heartly wish were false.

Hooker.

5. To hinde to delay; to detain; to keep back.

Your ships are stayed at Venice.

Shak.

This business staid me in London almost a week.

Evelyn.

I was willing to stay my reader on an argument that appeared to me new.

Locke.

6. To remain for the purpose of; to wait for. "I stay dinner there." Shak.

7. To cause to cease; to put an end to.

Stay your strife.

Shak.

For flattering planets seemed to say
This child should ills of ages stay.

Emerson.

8. (Engin.) To fasten or secure with stays; as, to stay a flat sheet in a steam boiler.

9. (Naut.) To tack, as a vessel, so that the other side of the vessel shall be presented to the wind.

To stay a mast (Naut.), to incline it forward or aft, or to one side, by the stays and backstays.

Stay
(Stay) v. i. [&radic163. See Stay to hold up, prop.]

1. To remain; to continue in a place; to abide fixed for a space of time; to stop; to stand still.

She would command the hasty sun to stay.

Spenser.

Stay, I command you; stay and hear me first.

Dryden.

I stay a little longer, as one stays
To cover up the embers that still burn.

Longfellow.